Spark recruits its latest executive from the UK

Aliza Beckett. Photo / Supplied

Spark has looked to the UK for its latest executive appointment: Aliza Beckett, who will fill the role of strategy director after she relocates here in June.

The newly created position will expand Spark's top management team (or "leadership squad" as it's known in Agile-speak) to 10 - six of whom will be women once Beckett is on board. The telco is also notable in the diversity-challenged ICT sector for having three women on its board, which is chaired by Justine Smyth.

Beckett is currently based in London as VP, strategy for Liberty Global - a Nasdaq-listed multinational that formed from a mashup of US, European and Japanese cable TV, broadband and entertainment companies, which Spark says specialises "in converged broadband, video, and mobile communications, with significant investments in cutting-edge infrastructure, content, and technology ventures".

Before that, from 2017 to 2020, she was head of content, international expansion for Amazon Studios - the producer of the $1 billion adaption of Lord of the Rings whose first series, at least, was filmed in West Auckland (the series is due to stream on Amazon Prime Video from September).

Earlier, she was global head of strategy - corporate, partnership and content for Google-owned YouTube.

Becket has also held roles with Channel 4 in the UK (head of development), Morgan Stanley, Deloitte and McKinsey.

"We have a strategic focus on growth and building a set of core capabilities that will differentiate us from our competitor set and grow the top line in both our established markets and those that we see playing a bigger role in our future," Spark CEO Jolie Hodson said:

"This new role will further strengthen this growth focus and help to accelerate our transition from traditional telecommunications services to a broader range of digital services that capitalise on the significant investments we are making in emerging technologies like 5G, IoT, and AI.

"Aliza has extensive sector experience driving growth strategies and will bring a unique, international perspective to Spark."

Spark executive team from June 2022

• Chief Executive, Jolie Hodson
• General Counsel, Melissa Anastasiou
• Marketing Director, Matt Bain
• Strategy Director, Aliza Beckett
• Technology Director, Mark Beder
• Corporate Relations and Sustainability Director, Leela Gantman
• Finance Director (CFO), Stefan Knight
• Customer Director, Grant McBeath
• People, Culture, and Ways of Working Director, Heather Polglase
• Product Director, Tessa Tierney